Dozens of IS fighters cross into eastern Syria despite coalition warning: Activists

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Despite threats from the US to bomb a convoy of Islamic State (IS) militants traveling to eastern Syria, dozens of militants have crossed into IS-controlled areas, Syrian opposition activists said on Saturday.

The announcement from the opposition activists came after the US-led coalition said the convoy of IS extremists that left the Lebanese border in western Syria were stranded.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said dozens of fighters abandoned the buses and drove into parts of Deir al-Zor.

The militant group agreed to evacuate territory, for the first time, from a district on the Syria-Lebanon border on Aug. 28.

The Syrian army and Hezbollah, a Shia Lebanese group, had prepared to transport the 17-bus IS convoy to an unspecified area in eastern Syria believed to be near Deir al-Zor.

On Wednesday, the US-led coalition conducted air strikes to block the convoy of fighters from reaching the eastern part of Syria.

The strike destroyed a small bridge and caused a crater in the road that the buses intended to take.

Spokesperson Colonel Ryan Dillon said the coalition was “not bound by these agreements,” referring to the truce between Lebanon, Syria, and IS.

In a statement on Saturday, Hezbollah said the coalition’s warplanes were still preventing the convoy of extremists from advancing further east.

Hezbollah said six of the buses were still in Syrian government controlled areas and if struck by air raids, civilians would be killed.

“The so-called international community and international institutions should intervene to prevent the occurrence of an ugly massacre,” the Shia group warned.

Meanwhile, officials in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq expressed their concern over the transfer of hundreds of militants toward the Iraqi border.